Collections
Manuela Klerkx
Old Masters Revisited
Glycée prints of painted replicas of the Old Masters such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer are almost impossible to get hold of. And certainly not now that China has made an important export product of the masters' hand-painted paintings. "Indistinguishable from the real thing," the ads proclaims. The Vanitas painting, complete with skulls and burnt-out candles, intended to prepare the viewer for eternal life, and the Still Life, a painted composition depicting motionless objects such as fruit, flowers or certain everyday objects, belong to the tradition of Dutch and Flemish 17th century painting. But there are many more themes and aspects from classical painting that are revived in contemporary painting, but with a different meaning. Artists Carmen Schabracq, Hidenori Mitsue, Amber Geuns and Thomas Lerooy understand the art of creating and recreating in an equally traditional yet original way. And always with a nod to the Old Masters.
5 Media items ᛫ 20 Available artworks
5 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Carmen Schabracq (1988) investigates the meaning of the portrait (intended to reveal) in relation to the mask (intended to conceal) in different painters, in different stories, myths and experiences and executed on canvas as well as on paper, crocheted or tufted. She does not shy away from the theatrical aspect of it. On the contrary, from childhood, she loved masks and dressing up. Jan Pieter Ekker writes in this connection in Het Parool*: 'The mask is a recurring theme and object in Schabracq's work. She also paints (self) portraits. She combined these two subjects in an ongoing investigation into the question of whether a (self)portrait can be a form of a mask that shows the inner state of the person portrayed.’ In 2022 she made a series of portraits, titled Heroines, of female icons in their 'feminine power'. One of these is a self-portrait - in which she breastfeeds herself - inspired by medieval Italian paintings of Madonnas feeding little Jesus. Schabracq: 'Those [paintings, ed.] are occasionally quite obscene; then the mother's milk sprays in all directions – strangely enough no one is concerned about that, while now everyone is quite hysterical if a mere nipple is shown.” *
*(Het Parool newspaper, 4 June 2022)
Represented by Galerie Fleur en Wouter
*(Het Parool newspaper, 4 June 2022)
Represented by Galerie Fleur en Wouter
1 Media items ᛫ 5 Available artworks
1 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Whether it is the Puttertje by Carel Fabritius, a Dutch winter landscape by Hendrick Avercamp, painted Delft blue flowers, pyramids or peacocks, the Japanese painter Hidenori Mitsue (1968), who lives in the Netherlands, succeeds in transforming iconic works from Dutch art history to new stories, consisting of a mixture of Western and Asian influences. It is clear that the artist is a regular visitor of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam - from the famous gallery of honour to the Delft blue room and the Asian pavilion. Familiar scenes, situations and objects that are etched into our collective memory come to life in explosions of colour and shapes against a monochrome background; or as part of a typical Dutch landscape, complete with skaters, church towers and bare branches. As if time is both passing and standing still.
Represented by Janknegt Gallery
Represented by Janknegt Gallery
0 Media items ᛫ 1 Available artworks
1 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
Amber Geuns (1999) is a new star in the Belgian art firmament who, in her own way, takes elements from art history - from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism to the period of the great surrealists such as Magritte and living artists such as Lisa Yuskavage – and adds these to her use of light and colour, and the atmosphere she manages to create with them. Her larger paintings of dueling knights, luxurious clothing, pleated fabrics and mosaic floors are strikingly enough much more detailed and finely painted than her small canvases (of only 8 x 6.5 cm), for which she uses a coarser brush stroke and a more sketch-like approach, but with an equally great amount of precision in terms of lighting and atmosphere.
Represented by Gallery De Wael 15
Represented by Gallery De Wael 15